Till the End of the Line

Rain pattered on the windows of Olivia's townhouse, and in the distant sky above clouds were gathering up again, brewing up another storm. A sudden crack of lightening woke Sarah, her eyes fluttering open with a start. Still half asleep, she shut her eyes again after a moment and listened to the thunder roaring over the house, nestling herself a little more snugly into the warm shape behind her. It took her a second to realise it was Bucky. Although it felt incredibly comforting to feel him lying against her, she thought he might not want her to be so close to him as she was, so she tried to move away from him, but he gave a sleepy grunt and closed his arm around her midriff, pinning her against him. Sarah wasn't sure if he was aware of what he was doing; he seemed fast asleep. Consciously done or not, she didn't mind staying right where she was, with his arm around her, and soon enough she dozed off again.

In the morning the storm was still raging outside, and rain still clattered on the windows when Sarah woke up. She looked confusedly around her, half expecting to see Bucky next to her, but even a comfortable bed didn't seem to stop him from rising early. Sarah pushed the duvet off of her, so she could examine her ankle. After a few minutes of turning and pressing she concluded that it was almost completely back to normal, apart from a light swelling that would probably be gone in a day or two. While she was still twisting and turning her foot around on the bed, Bucky came sidling into the room, drying his hair with a towel, obviously just back from the shower. When he saw that Sarah was up, he switched on the lights, as the sky outside was so overcast that it still seemed like it was the middle of the night. Since he was wearing nothing but Aidan's old sweatpants, his metal arm was entirely exposed and reflecting slightly in the sudden bright glow of the lamp.
Sarah found herself gawking at him for a moment, her mouth slightly open, groping blindly around in search of her foot. Recollecting herself almost instantly, she quickly turned her gaze away from his bare upper body and back on her feet, without really seeing anything.
"Good morning," she said, her eyes still fixed determinately on her ankle.
"Morning," he replied, as he walked to the sofa to put on his shirt.
"Did you sleep well?" she asked, finally daring to look up at him again. He shrugged.
"The bed's too soft," he said in an off-hand tone.
Sarah didn't know how to respond to this, so she simply watched him as he sat down and started wrapping his metal arm in bandages.
"Did you?" he asked, while he carefully bound the gauze around his silvery fingers, "sleep well, I mean." Sarah nodded.
"Yeah, I did," then, after a small pause, she got up and went for a shower herself.

Bucky was watching the news with a bowl of cereal in his hands when Sarah joined him downstairs a little later. Sergeant Tibbs lay curled on his lap, purring contentedly.
"Olivia left this," he said, gesturing at a piece of paper on the coffee table, "it says she's having dinner with her parents again."
"Again?" she repeated, picking up the note and reading it. "She'll be back around nine…" Sarah sighed and started walking to the kitchen, feeling like that might still not be enough time for her to figure out how she was going to tell Olivia they were leaving.
Besides mentally preparing herself for the talk, Sarah needed to use the rest of the day to prepare for what would come after it. The journey still seemed so far away that the fact that they were leaving that very same night felt rather surreal.
The day went by in a blur of gathering her and James' things, washing their clothes and cleaning up their room. Around seven o'clock they had dinner, on the couch because James was particularly keen to keep an eye on the news before they left. After dinner Sarah finally managed to tear him away from the TV, so he could help her peel and slice some apples for a thank-you pie for Olivia. When the pie was safely in the oven, and Sarah had taken their clean clothes out of the dryer, she made her way up to the bedroom to start packing.
She sat on the floor, listening to the rain that was still coming down hard on the windows. The only things still waiting to be packed were James' clothes, as Sarah thought he might want to put them in his duffel-bag himself. She felt like that was the only bit of personal space he had, and she didn't want to invade it. Now that she was done packing, her thoughts inescapably snapped back to the impending conversation with Olivia. Even though fragments of what she knew she wanted to say and what she had to say had been drifting haphazardly around in her mind for a while now, Sarah still wasn't sure how she was going to phrase everything. While she sat there, staring blankly into the distance, the storm outside was slowly starting to subside.

A small noise behind her woke Sarah out of her reverie. Looking over her shoulder, she saw James standing in the threshold, carrying the laptop in his bandaged metal hand.
"I'm all done," Sarah said after a short silence, "I put your things over there," she gestured at the neat stack of clothes she had placed on the sofa.
"Thank you," he said, walking past her and sitting down next to the little stack. Placing the laptop beside him, he gingerly touched his fingers to the hoodie that lay on top of the pile, the one he had worn on the night he'd broken into Sarah's apartment.
"I think I'll get a few hours sleep now, since we're probably going to be driving for some time," he glanced up at Sarah, then continued: "Can you stay up and wake me at one o'clock?" Sarah nodded, "Then you can sleep once we're on the road, is that okay?"
"Of course," she said.
"Alright then…" he got to his feet, grabbed his clothes and put them into his bag. Sarah sighed and got up as well.
"I think I'll go see if Olivia is back yet," she muttered, looking at James, who gave her an encouraging half-smile.
"Don't feel bad, Sarah," he said softly. She tried to smile back, but all she could manage was a forced sort of grimace.

When Sarah went looking for Olivia downstairs, she found her sitting at her desk in the study.
"Knock, knock," Sarah said quietly, to alert Liv of her presence.
"Oh," Olivia glanced over her shoulder, "hey, Sarah. Come in." Within a few strides Sarah was beside her, her eyes travelling over the enormous clutter of papers, folders and maps that were spread over the desk.
"How was it at your parents'?" Sarah asked, while Olivia was rifling through a pile of official-looking letters, evidently searching for something.
"Well, they gave me food," Liv began slowly, heaving a sigh, "and then they gave me this," she gestured at the mountain of paperwork before them. She looked up at Sarah, who frowned in confusion. "They trapped me," Liv continued, taking a few papers and organising them into a pile, "they kept asking me over for dinner, because 'we've been seeing so little of you lately'. But what they were really doing was waiting for me to let my guard down, so they could saddle me with all of this crap," she tugged angrily at a folder to dislodge it from under a pile of paper.
"But what exactly is all of this?" Sarah asked, still frowning. Olivia handed her the folder, pointing at a photograph that lay on top of it.
"This is our cabin in Asheville," she said, then shifted aside the photo of the cabin and pointed at the map underneath it, "and the owner of this other cabin here," she tapped on the map, "died a couple of months ago. And it turned out that his cabin was technically on our property, so now his asshole lawyer is holding us responsible for it," she gave Sarah a photo of the other cabin, "and my parents decided they were too busy to figure out what they should do with it. They can either resell it or demolish it, but they need me to go through this pile of rubbish to see which option is best for their wallets."
Sarah looked at the map, then at the picture.
"Where is this again?" she asked.
"Asheville," Olivia said grumpily, searching through the piles again.
"Would it be hard to sell?"
"No, the house is in really good condition: running water, electricity, it's even got a wifi connection, I think. It's just going to take so much time, sorting all of this out…" While Olivia was distracted, Sarah quickly copied the cabin's location on the back of the picture and slipped it into her pocket.
"So, you've got a lot to do then…" Sarah said awkwardly. Liv gave a derisive snort.
"That's the understatement of the year!" Sarah tried to steady her nerves, letting out a deep breath before moving to the opposite side of the table, facing Olivia.

"Liv," she started slowly, "I know this might seem a little out of the blue…" Liv shot a glance up at Sarah while she was still frantically looking through the jumble of papers.
"What's out of the blue?"
"Well…" Sarah cleared her throat, "I obviously told my parents about what happened in my apartment…"
"Of course," Liv said distractedly, "they must've been really shocked when you told them." Sarah nodded vigorously, glad Olivia was contributing things she could simply go along with, instead of having to fabricate everything herself.
"Yes, they were, especially my mum. And you know what she can get like when she's worked up…" Olivia nodded.
"I certainly do," she mumbled darkly.
"Well, the thing is…" Sarah carried on, "She went along and booked a flight to England for me, so I can stay with her and dad for a while to… you know, relax and…" Olivia looked up from the desk, a small frown between her eyebrows. Sarah immediately felt her face getting hot, and she stammered: "The thing is…" Olivia's eyes narrowed a little.
"The thing is…?" she repeated softly.
"Mum only told me about it this morning, and the flight leaves at four in the morning… tomorrow." Olivia's face fell slightly.
"You're leaving? Tonight?" Sarah nodded, biting her lip. "Wait a second…" Olivia said, her gaze suddenly shrewd, "you're not telling me something. What are you hiding, Falsworth?" Sarah swallowed.
"Nothing… I just… I would've told you sooner, but I only found out this mor-,"
"No, no, no…" Olivia rose from her seat, wagging her finger at Sarah, "I know what's going on…" and to Sarah's surprise a sly grin appeared on her friend's face. "This isn't just a trip to see your parents, isn't it? You're not going on your own… you're taking your hunky soldier in for inspection, aren't you?"
Slightly taken aback by this unexpected twist, Sarah simply gaped at Olivia, who crossed her arms over her chest, looking incredibly smug.
"Oh, Falsworth, you really are the worst liar in the world, you know," Liv said, chuckling, "I just don't understand why you'd want to hide it," she continued, coming around the desk as well to stand next to Sarah, who was still slightly stunned.
"Well, it's just… I thought you might think we were moving too fast, or something," Sarah muttered when she'd found her voice again, "you know… because I've only known James for about a month… I thought you'd… disapprove." Olivia laughed and pulled Sarah into a hug.
"If it were any other guy, I might disapprove, but you and James… You guys are perfect together!" she released Sarah and continued: "Besides, with a guy like James you'd be crazy not to move fast," she winked, "lock it down nice and quick."
"Uh, we're not getting married or anything, Liv, he's just meeting my parents, that's all."
"Sure, sure. We'll see what you've got to say when you get back," Liv walked back to the other side of the desk, "when will you be back, by the way?"
"I'm not sure yet, but I'll make sure to tell you as soon as I know," Sarah replied, following her to the front of the desk.

"Wow, so you're leaving tonight…" Olivia sighed, "And I suppose you're going to bed early, right?" Sarah nodded. Olivia cast a look at the mountain of papers in front of them and clicked her tongue. "This can wait," she said, "let's have a quick goodbye drink, you, me and James. Where is he, anyway?"
"He's already asleep, I'm afraid…"
"But he can't leave without saying goodbye!" Olivia pouted.
"Uh, well he did help me make a pie for you, to thank you for everything," Sarah said quickly.
"He did? Oh, that's so sweet, of the both of you!" Liv exclaimed, beaming, "well, now I just have to go up so I can thank him, and quickly say goodbye. I'm sure he won't mind," she said, and she was already walking out of the study and making her way up the stairs before Sarah could say or do anything to stop her.
"No, no, no!" she thought as she ran after her, praying that Bucky was still wearing his bandages.

When they reached the second landing, however, both girls halted with a start, as a muffled yell came from behind the bedroom door.
"James…" Sarah whispered anxiously, pushing past Olivia.
"What's going on?" she could hear her ask, but she didn't answer. When Sarah opened the door, she and Olivia caught a brief glimpse of James, who lay writhing and screaming on the floor, before Sarah stormed into the room, slamming the door in Olivia's face. Sarah ran over to him, bending down and pushing him onto his side.
"Come on… wake up…" she muttered, "It's not real, it's just a dream…" but the screaming and twitching didn't stop. Sarah quickly checked if his metal arm was covered, and when she saw that it was, she shouted: "Olivia!" at which, Liv opened the door.
"Oh my god…" Olivia muttered, aghast, as she stepped into the room.
"Get some water; a glass of water," Sarah yelled, panic now rising steadily. Olivia obeyed immediately, while Sarah bent over Bucky again. His face was contorted with what seemed to be unbearable agony, and Sarah had to exercise enormous effort not to burst into tears.
Olivia returned with a glass of water. She still looked utterly petrified when she handed it to Sarah.
"What's happening to him?" she asked in a shaky whisper.
"He's having a nightmare… It's trauma from his… from his…" but Sarah didn't finish the sentence, still fighting back tears.
"Oh my god," Liv said again, "is he going to be okay?"
"He should be… But usually it doesn't last this long…" Sarah put one hand on his shoulder and softly stroked his face with the other, "Come on…" she muttered, "please, James…"
His eyes suddenly opened and he stared wildly at Sarah, who let out a sigh of relief, followed immediately by a yelp of pain as his left hand closed around her throat. Olivia screamed in fright, backing away from them, while Sarah clutched at his bandaged fingers, trying to pry them off.
"It's me…" she choked, "it's just me…" His eyes widened, and she could see he was coming back to his senses. He instantly let go of her, staring at her, horrified.
"Did I hurt you?" he muttered, panting slightly. He reached out for her and she leaned in to wrap her arms around him, shaking her head.
"It's okay," she murmured into his ear, "I'm okay..." and she could feel him pressing her a little more firmly to him in reply. His breathing was still uneven when he let go of her, his eyes fixed on hers. Sarah's lips curled into a small, comforting smile. He didn't smile back, instead he frowned, lifting her chin up with his finger.
"I did hurt you…" he muttered, "I can see the marks…" Sarah shook her head again.
"It's nothing…"
She could feel his touch moving from her chin to her cheek. When she raised her eyes to his again she felt his bandaged hand softly against the other cheek as well. It had suddenly become almost impossible to breathe, and Sarah felt a nervous flutter in her stomach as they stared at each other.

"Oh you guys…!" Olivia gushed from the other side of the room, clapping a hand over her chest. Sarah and James turned their heads to her, quickly letting go of each other. Evidently they'd both forgotten she was still there.